Ironing-shoe and method of manufacture thereof



April 21, 1936. ,NGERSOLL 2,038,363

IRONING SHOE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed March 22, 1955 P277067? 074' JiepZzerz [[gera/Z Patented Apr. 21, 1936 PATENT OFFICE IRONING-SHOE AND METHOD OF MANU- FACTURE THEREOF Stephen L. Ingersoll, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Borg-Warner Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application March 22, 1935, Serial No. 12,385

6 Claims.

This inventiori relates to smoothing and ironing devices, and has to do more particularly with an improved laminated ironing-shoe and a method of its fabrication from different metals by a process of welding.

As presently made, ironing-shoes have a main body of relatively good heat conductive metal such as soft steel. This body is shaped as desired. One face thereof is coated with a hard corrosion resistive metal to effect a smoothing surface. Usually the added metal coating or layer is chromium, and is applied by an electroplating process.

Because of the cost of applying metal coatings by process of electroplating, a heavy layer is commercially impracticable; generally, it has a thickness of one or two thousandths of an inch. Such a layer can have but little resistance to lateral deformation, and, inasmuch as the only reenforcement therefor is, that afforded by the main body of soft steel, buttons and/or other hard objects of clothing and the like passed over the smoothing surface soon cause the plated layer to become deeply scratched, scored, and fre. quently punctured, rendering the shoe unfit for use. this kind upon the smoothing surface of an ironing-shoe is readily conceivable when consideration is taken of the amount of force required to separate the ironing-shoe and roller of an ordinary ironing machine during operation.

Partial avoidance of the difilculties experienced with the use of the chromium plated shoe has been obtained by using a shoe made entirely of stainless steel. Stainless steel, however, has only approximately one-half the heat conductivity of the soft steel employed in the chromium plated shoe, so that the article formed solely of stainless steel is slow and ineflicient in its transfer of heat from the back to the smoothing surface thereof. When a stainless steel shoe or plate is used, more time is required to place an ironing machine in operative order. Moreover, the cost of material in an ironing-shoe made entirely of stainless steel makes its use commercially prohibitive.

The primary. object'of the present invention is the provision of an economically produced ironing-shoe combining the wearing quality of a shoe made entirely of stainless steel, and the quality of efficient heat transfer approaching that of the ordinary chromium plated shoe., I

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel ironing-shoe clad with a noncorrosive metal readily applicable to the main body of the shoe in a thickness adequate to with- The destructive effect of hard objects of stand wear and pressure at concentrated points without becoming scratched, indented or punctured.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new method of producing an improved ironing-shoe as the above at a cost competitive with that of the ordinary ironing-shoe.

With the above and other desirable objects in..view, the following description of a form of the invention is set forth in conjunction with the accompanying single sheet of drawing hereby made a. part offthis specification, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view taken angularly of an ironing-shoe constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken at the line 27-2 of Figure 1. P

Like characters of reference are used for designating similar parts shown in the drawing and described hereinafter.

The ironing-shoe or plate it shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, corresponds generally in type to those commonly used in power ironing machinery. As becomes apparent upon an examination of Figure 2, the shoe Ill is substantially arcuate in transverse section, there being rolled flanges coextensive with the longitudinal edges to lessen the likelihood of the work accidentally catching upon the shoe and thereby becoming torn or injured, and to permit of the work being presented to the shoe with greater facility.

The shoe ill is of metal and includes a main body portion ll clad with a lamination l2 upon which is provided a smoothing surface l3. Usually the main body section it of the laminated shoe I0 is of soft steel, whereas the thinner section I2 is of a stainless cutlery steel suitably hardened. The section I2 may be hardened by heat treatment. Soft steel is particularly adapted as a material from which to form the main body of "the shoe because of the relatively good heat conductive properties thereof. Furthermore, soft steel and stainless steel may be easily bonded together by welding or by a hot rolling process. The sections II and I2 of the laminated shoe may be fabricated by either of the tatively mounted coaxially of the cylindrical portion of the shoe. Articles, such as clothing,

which are to be ironed by the machine, are fed thereinto between the rotating cylindrical presser member and the smoothing surface of the shoe. Frictional engagement between the cylindrical member and the articles causes the latter to be carried by the member against and over the smoothing surface l3 of the ironing-shoe while such surface, which has been itself smoothed and polished, smoothes the articles. The smooth surface iii of the shoe l0 efiects a like surface upon the article treated thereby, and hence the shoe may be appropriately referred to as a forming-plate, and the smooth surface as a formingsurface.

Inasmuch as the two laminations II and I! of the ironing-shoe III are interfabricated by a heating process, in cohtradistinction to a proces of electroplating, the relative thickness of the'two laminations is no factor determinative of production cost of the shoe, except with respect to the relative worth of the metals. The main body section H gives the shoe strength, and because of its comparative thickness, is made of a metal having a high degree of heat conductivity. In order that the obverse face of the shoe will remain smooth and unpitted from either wear or corrosion, the metal from which it is made must possess characteristics of hardness and corrosion resistivity. Steel containing chromium and sometimes a small percentage of nickel, i. e., a variety of the so-called stainless steels, has been found when properly treated for hardness, to possess the qualities required of a material for forming the obverse clad section I! of the shoe.

The greater portion of the ironing-shoe is made -of soft steel because of its low cost, its ease of combining with the stainless steel section, and its relatively good conductivity of heat. Section H of the shoe is made no thicker than is necessary to withstand the stress placed thereon during use. Unless the section I! is of a certain thickness,-whether it be of stainless steel or an electroplated layer, the concentrated pressure of buttons, hooks, fasteners, and the like of clothing, will cause small areas of the section to give way coincidental with being pressed into the softer counterpart body ll of soft steel. If such were the case, deep scores and scratches would be formed in the shoe; the rustable'soft .iron would be exposed; and, as a consequence, the shoess utility would be tremendously impaired. The section I! of stainless cutlery steel, which has been hardened, is without adding appreciably to the manufacturing cost, made of a thickness to prevent its breaking down in the manner described above, and thus provides a superior form of ironing-shoe.

A particular embodiment and illustration of the invention has been described. It is apparent, however, that other metals having similar characteristics may be joined together by a heat treating process without departing from the spirit of the invention, and so it is intended that the scope of the invention shall be limited only as defined within the appended claims.

I claim as niy invention:

1. A laminated ironing-shoe having a smoothing surface provided by one of the laminations thereof, said lamination being of relatively hard stainless steel, another of the laminations being of a relatively good heat conductive steel, and said laminations being fabricated to one another by a welding process.

2. An ironing-shoe comprising a main body section of soft heat conductive metal, and a clad section of hard corrosion-resistive metal joined to the main body section by a welding process, the clad section being shaped to provide the smoothing surface of said shoe. I

3. The herein described process of making an ironing-shoe and comprising the steps of fabricating by welding together a relatively thick metal body having high heat conductive property and a relatively thin body of hard corrosion-resistive metal, polishing the exposed surface of the corrosion-resistive metal to provide a smoothing surface, and shaping the parts thus fabricated so that the prepared smoothing surface will have a section conforming to the cylindrical surface of a compressor roll.

4. The herein described process of making an ironing-shoe and comprising the steps of fabricating by welding together a relatively thick metal body having high heat conductivity and a relatively thin body of hard corrosion-resistive metal, shaping the parts thus fabricated so that the corrosion-resistive metal will have an exposed surface section conforming to the cylindrical surface of a compressor roll, and then polishing such exposed surface section.

5. An ironing-shoe comprising a main body section of soft heat conductive metal, and a clad section of hard corrosion-resistive metal joined to the main body section by a welding process, the clad section being shaped to provide the smoothing surface of the shoe, and there being a rolled flange upon said shoe, said flange carrying a continuation of such smoothing surface.

6. A laminated ironing-shoe having a curved flange and having a smoothing surface provided by one of said larninations, said smoothing surface being extended onto such fiange, said lamination being of relatively hard stainless steel, another of the laminations being of a relatively soft good heat conductive steel and fabricated to said stainless steel lamination by a welding process to provide a backing plate therefor, and said stainless steel lamination being of a hardness and thickness adequate to prevent indenture thereof into the body of said softer lamination incident to concentrated pressure application upon limited areas thereof during use.

STEPHEN L. INGERSOLL. 

